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Published: February 16th 2011
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Goodbye Travelers!
Leaving on donkey. The next morning we lazed about and watched the New Years TV specials on both the regular Han Chinese CCTV and the Sichuan Tibetan channel. One act that stands out was an outer-space-themed acrobatic dance performed by men in pink spandex Tron costumes who tok themselves very seriously. I also enjoyed seeing traditional Tibetan dancing, costumes and music, which I had not seen before. Besides Si Tu and me, everyone from our original group left. The two of us stuck around for the New Years celebration.
That afternoon, the men sat across from each other in a clearing (um we were all basically sitting in Yak poop) and drank, aate snacks, told jokes, and sang song. I guess as the weird foreigner I was allowed to go to these guys-only things. They provided Si Tu and me with a basket of fruit, candy and special homemade deep-fried bread treats, plus two glasses of that vile qing ke jiu (I eventually got kind of used to it). Some super grizzly old guys came. Some of them had hand-held prayer wheels that they constantly spun. Some kids were also there, playing in the distance and occasionally setting off firecrackers. Two little sisters
had cups that people kept refilling with juice and soda, and they kept running through the circle of men, falling into people's laps and cheersing us. Around that time, some Chinese tourists came back from their morning hike and shamelessly took a ton of pictures, shoving their huge lenses into the Tibetans' faces. The adults didn't seem to mind this behavior, but I saw that it bothered some of the kids. Later on, our get-together turned into a mobile party where we walked, sang, set off firecrackers on the hill, and drank more hard liquor.
That evening, Si Tu and I ate with the family. At night, the kids were very excited to set of fireworks. There were various kinds. Some simply exploded and made a loud sound, some whirled up in the air like a helicopter, and some launched like a rocket. The six-year-old boy had a lighter and was allowed to set all thsee off with no supervision. In general, the kids were rather freely allowed to work with fire and big knives. They mostly seemed to know what they were doing. The main event was a huge box of many fireworks that the kid excitedly got
out of a sack in the closet (imported by mule, fore sure). It was basically an entire fireworks show in a box. To start it, they just lit the first fuse. The fireworks were so close they took up the whole sky.
The next morning, Si Tu and I headed over to the main village meeting spot. there is the old elementary school (painted with the slogan 好好学习 天天向上 - "good good study, day day up" haha), the new elementary school, the store, the local government building, and the basketball court. The government building was empty except for an altar with fruits and fabrics, a fire, and pictures of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Hu Jintao. The villagers choose their own local leader. A few people said that there would be an arrow-shooting event, but it never seemed to occur. Some of the men did have arrows and they were fixing them up. Si Tu asked to see one and I reached to pass one to him, but was told that women were not allowed to touch them.
The day was spent lazing about, playing basketball, drinking qing ke jiu and chatting. The younger kids kept running ot
the shop, buying firecrackers, setting them off, and running back for more. One of the older guys we were chatting with made a big point to emphasize to Si Tu that Tibetans and Chinese were one people. He pointed at the picture of Mao and said Mao was a very good person. In fact, our guesthouse also had a picture of Mao on the wall. Additionally, when we were taking the cab to Feilaisi and Si Tu asked the Tibetan driver about Tibetan New Years activities, the driver emphasized that it was the same as Han Chinese New Years. He said that in Lhasa they havea different schedule, but in that area (Yunnan's Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) they were all Chinese and all did the same thing. I am not sure if these sentiments were real, if they were trying to make friends, if they were tryingi to avoid troubles with the authorities, or if they were trying to continue to build their lucrative relationship with Chinese tourists.
One guy invited Si Tu and me into his house for tea and snacks. he had recently returned home after 5 years studying in India and traveling to Nepal to see
the Dali Lama. He talked about how the village has changed. He said that before they were poorer and happier. He said they used to only be able to afford simple food, but it was good. He said that they don't wear traditional clothing anymore and there used to be so many stories about the mountains but nobody remembers them anymore. He himself wore western clothes and is planning to open his own guesthouse in a few months. It seems that though he thinks progress hasn't brought happiness, he is not going to be left behind. He also invited Si Tu and me to stay and eat New Years Porridge. It was wheat-based and very tasty. Traveling with and eating with Chinese people for every meal made me so sick of white rice.
The next day we started with a community basketball game. First we swept the dirt, food wrappers, and detonated fireworks off the court. Then some of the men laid out the court lines using measuring tape, rope, water, and chalk dust. The whole town gathered on the steps of the government building to watch. It was pretty official with whistle-blowing referees and a guy making a
scoreboard on a blackboard. The halftime show was a middle-aged men vs. women mini game, and the women won.
After the game, we had a big feast in the government building. People had carted in lots of tables and chairs from home, and it seemed that the women had been gathering and preparing food for several days. They circled around hte hall and kept refilling our plates. After dinner, we chilled on the front steps some more while kids set off some rather large fireworks. One didn't explode until it was already falling down, so firey material rained down on all of us. I was spared, but Si Tu got many burns on his clothing and even a hole in his shirt! Also around that time I met a Polish condensed matter physicist who did his postdoc at Beijing Normal University and is now back to study Chinese full-time. Finally, there was a singing and dancing celebration that was pretty overrun by tourists. They were all talking very loudly, getting in the way of the dancers, and using a lot of flash photography. I wanted to stay back out of the performers' way, so as a result, I couldn't
see anything.
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